Legal Question in Family Law in California

You can get an order, but you will have trouble collecting of course. When a party to a legal proceeding cannot be found, and the other party can prove they have taken all reasonable steps to locate the person, there is a procedure where you go into court on a motion to serve by publication. You then get an order that you publish the summons in a court approved newspaper a certain number of times over the course of (I think) a month. The paper then gives you a certified copy of the add and a declaration of the publication. You submit that to the court, and the person is deemed to have been served. Once you have the service and get an order for support, I would also recommend that you turn collection over to the state Department of Child Support Services, rather than paying your attorney to try to collect. They will do it for free, and they have access to state and federal tax refunds, and state employment tax records to track down where he is and what income and assets he has, as well as the power to suspend licenses, and seize asset. They can make life hell for a non-paying ex spouse far better than any lawyer.

I disagree with Mr. McCormick, because the answer to your question depends on facts that you have not provided.

Support order impose a personal obligation, and generally the court must have personal jurisdiction over the party to be ordered to pay support. If he is a nonresident, you may only assert personal jurisdiction in one of four ways. There are four (4) general areas that must be analyzed to determine whether a California court has jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant: 1) Personal service of the summons in California; 2) Domicile in California at the time of commencement of the suit; 3) Consent and 4) Minimum Contacts.

Service by publication does not establish personal jurisdiction under item number 1. That requires actual personal service of the summons in California.